Super Smash Bros. is one of the most popular fighting games around and the latest entry was recently released on Nintendo’s Wii U and 3DS. The game is directed by Masahiro Sakurai and developed with help of the famous Japanese studio, Bandai Namco Entertainment.

Namco is known for its work on the highly popular fighting game series like Tekken. Among other things, fighting mechanics of Tekken is what made this franchise into what it is today and when Nintendo wanted a studio for the development of Super Smash Bros.; Bandai Namco seemed like the right choice. Possibly the only company Nintendo felt capable enough to handle such a big project.

We thought it would be better to have one single company work for us, so we choose to work with Bandai Namco Games who produce Tekken and other games. When thinking about a Japanese company that can make a large-scale fighting-game, there was only this one company. It would be quite difficult for other companies I think.

Considering the success of Super Smash Bros., Bandai Namco Entertainment was indeed the right choice for the development of this game, don’t you think?

Additionally, in the same interview, he spoke about Greninja which is one of the most loved characters in the game. Greninja was introduced in Super Smash Bros. and Sakurai shared some tidbits about his creation:

..even before his name was decided I received several illustrations. I took them home in the evening and around midnight I had already done all his actions, normal moves, special moves and pose-pictures and sent them around asking “What do you think?

Sakurai has been involved with Smash Bros. since the beginning and his talent brought to life many a loved Nintendo characters. Hopefully, this will continue and he will keep amazing us with new and ambitious creations.